The present invention relates to folded, absorbent open-type incontinence articles for incontinent adults, and to a method of folding absorbent incontinence articles.
DE-102005035544-A1 already describes an incontinence article having material portions which are attached to side peripheries of the main part and are often also referred to as ears, which bear closure elements in the peripheral region, wherein the ears are folded onto themselves, and folded in onto that side of the main part which faces the body, about at least two folding lines in order to form an arrangement which has its component parts folded in one above the other and is fixed in a releasable manner at a first point of attachment.
EP-1005316-B1 describes the operation for folding the ears of an open-type diaper in a z-shaped manner and in the case of which in the first instance the outer end of the ears is folded in the rearward direction, by at least the width of the closure surface, and then, in this configuration, is folded back in the forward direction, by double the width of the closure surface, in which case the closure elements in this folded configuration are not concealed by a material layer and are immediately visible to the user.
EP-1166735-B1 likewise describes an operation for folding the rear ears in a z-shaped or inverted-z-shaped manner, wherein initial folding takes place in the inward direction onto the chassis of the diaper and then the free end of the side part is folded over in the outward direction one or more times such that, in the folded state, it is oriented in the outward direction and can easily be unfolded when the diaper has been put on—in particular put onto bedridden individuals.
WO-2005/110321-A1 describes the operation of folding absorbent hygiene articles along first and second longitudinal folding lines such that the outer edges of the ears extend beyond the folding line, in which case the folded article is easy to unfold since the outer edge bearing the closure elements can be reached directly.
WO-2007/058761-A1 describes the production of absorbent hygiene articles with separately attached ears at high machine speeds without the article or the closure elements being inadvertently creased or folded, this being done by folding being carried out which protects the ears and closure elements. For this purpose, the ear, which bears a closure element on its side which is located on the inside when the hygiene article has been placed in position, is folded over onto the inside of the chassis along a longitudinal axis and then the entire side part is folded over onto the chassis along a second longitudinal axis, wherein the second folding width is at least equal to the first, in order that the first inwardly folded region is not folded anew by the second folding operation.
DE-102004021353-A1 discloses an absorbent incontinence article having a main part, made up of a front region, of a rear region and of a crotch region which is located therebetween, as seen in the longitudinal direction, and ends up between a user's legs, wherein the main part comprises an absorbent body, and having rear material portions, which are attached to the rear region, and having front material portions, which are attached to the front region, wherein the rear and front material portions extend in the transverse direction beyond lateral longitudinal peripheries of the main part, wherein the material portions have an inside, which in the use state faces the body, and an outside, which in the use state faces away from the body, and wherein rear material portion, have closure elements on an outer peripheral region of the rear material portions, wherein rear and front material portions connect the front region and the rear region to one another in the use state of the article, and wherein the material portions, prior to initial use of the folded-together article, are folded onto themselves and in the inward direction, onto that side of the rear region of the main part which faces the body.
Proceeding from this prior art, the problem with the folded incontinence articles is that, at high speeds in the production process, the proportion of products produced in a manner which does not conform to specifications increases. Produced in a manner which does not conform to specifications denotes products which do not meet the manufacturer's requirements in respect of product quality. The product quality is impaired as the production speed increases in that the closure elements applied to the folded ears open in an undesired manner during production. If the incontinence article, together with the folded ears and the closure elements which have opened in an undesired manner, is folded longitudinally and/or in the transverse direction in the next production step, then the open, or partially open, closure element comes into contact with other material layers of the incontinence article and is fixed in an undesired manner thereon. As a result, it is no longer possible for the incontinence article to be unfolded in the usual manner and it may be the case that it is no longer possible to use the closure elements for proper fixing. If such an incontinence article were not removed from the production process, then the undesired fixing would become more pronounced upon subsequent packaging of the incontinence article under pressure in a plastics-material bag, in which case such products are unusable since they can no longer be readily opened and put on.
It is an object of the present invention for it to be possible for absorbent open-type incontinence articles with attached ears to be produced at a high production speed without the functionality of the closure means being impaired. The incontinence articles, moreover, should be made available in a user-friendly arrangement.